I admit I am an amateur when it comes to using digital technology. This course has made me aware of my neophyte skills, and the robust amount of tools available for teachers in the 21st century classroom.
Teaching and Learning with Technology (IT 645) provides a robust of amount of information and tools to help prepare educators for technology rich classrooms. From how technology affects teachers competency in accordance with the National Educational Standards for Teachers, to how technology fits within the theory of learning, to the best practices of incorporating technology into daily lesson plans. This course explores these opportunities and challenges of technology for the 21st Century classroom. Regarding this course, a proactive effort was essential in completing the numerous assignments (hands-on projects) given within the time confinements of the course; however, after experiencing the plethora of online tools available one understands the quantity of the assignments. I found the course interesting and gained firsthand experience as to the potential technology brings to the classroom. In order to keep pace with the rest of the world, technology in the classroom is a major impetus in achieving this outcome. For majority of the tools, I was not familiar with their application or never heard of the tools until this course. While working with most of the tools I found them to be very user friendly, which gave me a ton of ideas for future use. I will elaborate below on each tool that I used and explain what I consider their weaknesses and strengths regarding their usage.
Weebly makes it easy for anyone to create a blog with basic functionality. It was surprisingly easy to post articles, reply to post articles, link files, and include photographs onto my blog page. I find blogs to be a very affect way of communicating for readers, viewers, and to add their comments to any particular topic. Blogs present an eclectic collections of viewpoint from all participants and offers open content dialogue that is absent in closed content classrooms. I will use blogs in my teaching to encourage collaboration, creativity, and effective communication in creating a curriculum that forge content in preparing students to become productive citizens. The weakness of using blogs is the freedom speech that is afforded to anyone who logs on.
One of the first on-line tools I used in this course was Google.Docs. I found this software to be very useful and offered a plethora of applications for educational purposes. The unique thing about this software is that it allows you to create documents, slides etc., share them and offer live feedback or work on items in collaboration. The creation of a Survey was interested, in that it is an instrument used to capture input, misconceptions, ideas etc. for class projects, lesson plan improvements or brainstorming. The creation of Instructional document in Google.Doc offered instruction content in the absent of audio or video instruments. This instrument incorporates in the classroom setting easily to give students guidance for home or in school activities. The Google.slides application is very helpful for students who use visual as a primary learning aspect. The slides are very similar to using PowerPoint, but with a unique feature (live collaboration) in creating them. This technology is a staple in most contemporary classroom settings; I would use PowerPoint as instructional content regarding classroom, assignments and home activities. Lastly, the creation of the Gradebook as an instrument provides live updates on student performance to teachers as well as parents. In addition, the gradebook offers graphical representation in a comprehensive form to compare grades and to plot out areas of the lesson plan that requires improvement. This tool easily incorporates into a teacher’s repertoire to manage the aforementioned. The strength of Google.Docs is that it creates effective communication and immediate feedback to all parties involved; it has features and capabilities similar to other suites such as Microsoft or Macintosh. One weakness is not all parties may have access to internet.
The features in constructing the Podcast audio, I founded to be user-friendly. The most difficult part of constructing the audio was finding the right content and eliminating the background noise. However, the weakness in using podcasting is that it does not cover the visual or body-kinesthetic of learning. Students who require visual and hands on experience will find it difficult to learn. In a class environment, I see podcasting as a supplement to PowerPoint or to instructional document to facilitate assimilation of information. The Windows Live Moviemaker project was uncharted territory in using on-line software. I thought the tools were user-friendly, once understanding the dynamics of how it worked. What I found difficult with this assignment was synchronizing the audio with the video when using Windows Live Movie Maker. This process was time consuming, and offered numerous retries before I got the synchronization to satisfy the requirements of assignment. Perhaps having more experience with this software would improve my techniques in creating suitable videos. I would certainly use this instrument for instructional and explanation content of the lesson plan because it encompass all three aspects of learning (audio, visual and body-kinesthetic).
I have never built a Web site prior to this class. My approach to building a website was a bit apprehensive when I started, but that apprehension slowly subsided as I mettled around with the software. I like that Weebly has user-friendly applications and a robust number of features that make web site a pleasure to create. From making banners, text design, themes, downloads, etc. the list goes on and on as to the number of combinations that are available. Weebly easy approach to web site building is definitely a plus for teachers to incorporate into their classrooms. A weakness in using Weebly is incorporating text or downloading files onto the web page; sometimes the content does not transfer over smooth and requires several tries to complete. With the exception of this flaw, websites offer students, teachers and parents a constant communication conduit for assignments and projects. In the future, I think websites (course sites) will add interest, variety in the form of visuals as well as expert viewpoints to the courses I offer. I think teachers as well as parents will be excited about the imprint that it could potentially leave on the impressionable minds of our digital natives.
In creating the Quiz and Forum in Weebly, the process was easy and only took a few minutes to complete. I can foresee both tasks as useful formative assessment tools to ensure the lesson plan is adequate and to capture the progress of student’s performance. For example for my topic of Earth’s Layer and Plate Tectonics providing some form of formative assessment will provide me the opportunity to make to adjustments to the course content. The Rubistar website creates rubrics in a standard format that ensures the students have a standard to follow in helping them achieve the objective (s) of the assignment(s). The use of the Rubistar software made the process simple and enjoyable. The hardest part for creating the rubric was creating the content; after that, a few simple clicks within the software generated the document. Rubrics are a nice way to ensure that the content is meaningful and consistent when it comes to grading assignments for students. They are a staple in modern day classroom lesson construct. The Test Maker creates Exams (summative assessment) in a format to assess students’ comprehensive knowledge of the lesson. The software was user friendly to the amateur and required minimum effort in creating the document. Having good templates for matching, short answer, and multiple choice tests are quite handy for teachers to use. Weakness in both quizzes and test maker software is the cost associated with membership and internet cost.
I found creating the interactive image in Thinglink to be quite simple from uploading the desired image to tagging the image with interactive content. This software allows the teacher or student to add sound effects and video explanations to images or displays. I would use this software to explain in detail information of a subject. For example in explaining the Earth’s Internal Layers, I would find an image that separates each layer, then tag the image with audio, video content that explains the appearance, chemical/physical properties and depth of each layer in detail. For the Scoopit page, I found this to be very useful in gathering information from a robust number of webpages and putting all the information onto one site. Using the features in Scoopit were simple, and has peeked my curiosity in using this online tool for future references. These technologies are able to give students, the visual, audio and kinesthetic aspect of learning while simultaneously promoting increase knowledge content, personal growth and application of principles. I find these technologies to be beneficial in most people lives and as a result, I foresee an increase usage of these technologies in the future.
Finally, I thought this course was very educational and interesting regarding the plethora of tools that are available to support teachers, students or the public. As prices and bandwidth for web hardware and software become more affordable, the use of these items will become more prevalent in homes and schools. I was surprise to learn about the robust number of free on-line web tools available; as an advocate of this course, I recommend it to anyone who has limited knowledge in using digital technology tools.
Teaching and Learning with Technology (IT 645) provides a robust of amount of information and tools to help prepare educators for technology rich classrooms. From how technology affects teachers competency in accordance with the National Educational Standards for Teachers, to how technology fits within the theory of learning, to the best practices of incorporating technology into daily lesson plans. This course explores these opportunities and challenges of technology for the 21st Century classroom. Regarding this course, a proactive effort was essential in completing the numerous assignments (hands-on projects) given within the time confinements of the course; however, after experiencing the plethora of online tools available one understands the quantity of the assignments. I found the course interesting and gained firsthand experience as to the potential technology brings to the classroom. In order to keep pace with the rest of the world, technology in the classroom is a major impetus in achieving this outcome. For majority of the tools, I was not familiar with their application or never heard of the tools until this course. While working with most of the tools I found them to be very user friendly, which gave me a ton of ideas for future use. I will elaborate below on each tool that I used and explain what I consider their weaknesses and strengths regarding their usage.
Weebly makes it easy for anyone to create a blog with basic functionality. It was surprisingly easy to post articles, reply to post articles, link files, and include photographs onto my blog page. I find blogs to be a very affect way of communicating for readers, viewers, and to add their comments to any particular topic. Blogs present an eclectic collections of viewpoint from all participants and offers open content dialogue that is absent in closed content classrooms. I will use blogs in my teaching to encourage collaboration, creativity, and effective communication in creating a curriculum that forge content in preparing students to become productive citizens. The weakness of using blogs is the freedom speech that is afforded to anyone who logs on.
One of the first on-line tools I used in this course was Google.Docs. I found this software to be very useful and offered a plethora of applications for educational purposes. The unique thing about this software is that it allows you to create documents, slides etc., share them and offer live feedback or work on items in collaboration. The creation of a Survey was interested, in that it is an instrument used to capture input, misconceptions, ideas etc. for class projects, lesson plan improvements or brainstorming. The creation of Instructional document in Google.Doc offered instruction content in the absent of audio or video instruments. This instrument incorporates in the classroom setting easily to give students guidance for home or in school activities. The Google.slides application is very helpful for students who use visual as a primary learning aspect. The slides are very similar to using PowerPoint, but with a unique feature (live collaboration) in creating them. This technology is a staple in most contemporary classroom settings; I would use PowerPoint as instructional content regarding classroom, assignments and home activities. Lastly, the creation of the Gradebook as an instrument provides live updates on student performance to teachers as well as parents. In addition, the gradebook offers graphical representation in a comprehensive form to compare grades and to plot out areas of the lesson plan that requires improvement. This tool easily incorporates into a teacher’s repertoire to manage the aforementioned. The strength of Google.Docs is that it creates effective communication and immediate feedback to all parties involved; it has features and capabilities similar to other suites such as Microsoft or Macintosh. One weakness is not all parties may have access to internet.
The features in constructing the Podcast audio, I founded to be user-friendly. The most difficult part of constructing the audio was finding the right content and eliminating the background noise. However, the weakness in using podcasting is that it does not cover the visual or body-kinesthetic of learning. Students who require visual and hands on experience will find it difficult to learn. In a class environment, I see podcasting as a supplement to PowerPoint or to instructional document to facilitate assimilation of information. The Windows Live Moviemaker project was uncharted territory in using on-line software. I thought the tools were user-friendly, once understanding the dynamics of how it worked. What I found difficult with this assignment was synchronizing the audio with the video when using Windows Live Movie Maker. This process was time consuming, and offered numerous retries before I got the synchronization to satisfy the requirements of assignment. Perhaps having more experience with this software would improve my techniques in creating suitable videos. I would certainly use this instrument for instructional and explanation content of the lesson plan because it encompass all three aspects of learning (audio, visual and body-kinesthetic).
I have never built a Web site prior to this class. My approach to building a website was a bit apprehensive when I started, but that apprehension slowly subsided as I mettled around with the software. I like that Weebly has user-friendly applications and a robust number of features that make web site a pleasure to create. From making banners, text design, themes, downloads, etc. the list goes on and on as to the number of combinations that are available. Weebly easy approach to web site building is definitely a plus for teachers to incorporate into their classrooms. A weakness in using Weebly is incorporating text or downloading files onto the web page; sometimes the content does not transfer over smooth and requires several tries to complete. With the exception of this flaw, websites offer students, teachers and parents a constant communication conduit for assignments and projects. In the future, I think websites (course sites) will add interest, variety in the form of visuals as well as expert viewpoints to the courses I offer. I think teachers as well as parents will be excited about the imprint that it could potentially leave on the impressionable minds of our digital natives.
In creating the Quiz and Forum in Weebly, the process was easy and only took a few minutes to complete. I can foresee both tasks as useful formative assessment tools to ensure the lesson plan is adequate and to capture the progress of student’s performance. For example for my topic of Earth’s Layer and Plate Tectonics providing some form of formative assessment will provide me the opportunity to make to adjustments to the course content. The Rubistar website creates rubrics in a standard format that ensures the students have a standard to follow in helping them achieve the objective (s) of the assignment(s). The use of the Rubistar software made the process simple and enjoyable. The hardest part for creating the rubric was creating the content; after that, a few simple clicks within the software generated the document. Rubrics are a nice way to ensure that the content is meaningful and consistent when it comes to grading assignments for students. They are a staple in modern day classroom lesson construct. The Test Maker creates Exams (summative assessment) in a format to assess students’ comprehensive knowledge of the lesson. The software was user friendly to the amateur and required minimum effort in creating the document. Having good templates for matching, short answer, and multiple choice tests are quite handy for teachers to use. Weakness in both quizzes and test maker software is the cost associated with membership and internet cost.
I found creating the interactive image in Thinglink to be quite simple from uploading the desired image to tagging the image with interactive content. This software allows the teacher or student to add sound effects and video explanations to images or displays. I would use this software to explain in detail information of a subject. For example in explaining the Earth’s Internal Layers, I would find an image that separates each layer, then tag the image with audio, video content that explains the appearance, chemical/physical properties and depth of each layer in detail. For the Scoopit page, I found this to be very useful in gathering information from a robust number of webpages and putting all the information onto one site. Using the features in Scoopit were simple, and has peeked my curiosity in using this online tool for future references. These technologies are able to give students, the visual, audio and kinesthetic aspect of learning while simultaneously promoting increase knowledge content, personal growth and application of principles. I find these technologies to be beneficial in most people lives and as a result, I foresee an increase usage of these technologies in the future.
Finally, I thought this course was very educational and interesting regarding the plethora of tools that are available to support teachers, students or the public. As prices and bandwidth for web hardware and software become more affordable, the use of these items will become more prevalent in homes and schools. I was surprise to learn about the robust number of free on-line web tools available; as an advocate of this course, I recommend it to anyone who has limited knowledge in using digital technology tools.